The passing of improv master Jonathan Winters Thursday at 87 brings a flood of fond memories of his character inventions, from Maude Frickert to Princess Leilani-nani, “the world’s oldest hula dancer,” to the wood nymphs.

The magic he worked with props! Mainly, though, it’s his manic energy, the sense that anything could happen on live TV in his wild bursts of creativity, that we remember.

Robin Williams shared his bipolar disorder, but never lost control. Winters really went there, checking himself into an institution at one point. In an interview with TV critics in 2000, he commented, “I’m bipolar now. I was just a manic-depressive. Now I’m bipolar and I haven’t been to either pole.” Viewers had the sensation that he was on the verge of being taken advantage of by networks, producers, hosts who set him loose on camera.

Joanne Ostrow has been watching TV since before "reality" required quotation marks. "Hill Street Blues" was life-changing. If Dickens, Twain or Agatha Christie were alive today, they'd be writing for television. And proud of it.